quietly
by princess amaryllis
Summary: Kiba's been silent for the past hour and twenty-three minutes. Shino's barely moved in that time. It's a little strange.


**Title:** quietly

 **Summary:** Kiba's been silent for the past hour and twenty-three minutes. Shino's barely moved in that time. It's a little strange.

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Kiba's been silent for the past hour and twenty-three minutes. Shino's barely moved in that time.

Watching his teammate pensively from his spot in the corner, he wonders what has Kiba's attention so raptly, for Kiba hasn't looked up even once from whatever he's doing on Shino's bed. He's not facing Shino, either, though Shino can see the top of his head in the mirror across the room.

Shino adjusts his black glasses, slipping down his face for what has to be the twentieth time in an hour and twenty-six minutes.

While Shino is a very patient person, this is stretching it a little. His normally endearingly loud teammate has been utterly silent for the past hour and twenty-eight minutes. It's more than a little strange.

The room's been mostly quiet, with the occasional yawn or shift or the scritch-scratch of a pencil against paper. Those have been the only signals that Kiba hasn't fallen asleep this past hour and thirty minutes.

Frankly, Shino is getting bored, a feat he had not been aware of being possible. Usually Kiba is there is entertain him or at least have his attention, but unfortunately for Shino, his teammate has been utterly silent for an hour and thirty-three minutes.

Shino clears his throat nearly inaudibly. Naturally, it's not enough to break Kiba out of whatever trance he's been in for one hour and thirty-seven minutes.

His patience is slowly waning. Kiba's not paying attention to him, and while he's used to others forgetting his presence, Kiba's never done so. He's always shouted at him or cut through Shino's words just to spite him. But Kiba's been ignoring him for an hour and forty-one minutes.

Shino searches desperately for something to do that doesn't involve leaving the room, for while he wants something to do, he likes Kiba's company and leaving would be rude, anyways. With a slight exhale, he slides off his glasses and breathes on the lenses and polishes his glasses. It's been an hour and forty-six minutes, and Kiba still hasn't said anything, and Shino's patience is beginning to disappear at a faster rate.

Kiba makes a low frustrated noise from across the room after one hour and fifty minutes of utter silence and Shino quickly looks up eagerly. Unfortunately, Kiba still doesn't move, doesn't do anything else. Shino's gaze drops back down.

Shino shifts his weight from his left leg to right leg, turning his head slightly towards the ceiling where a few bugs swim through the air lazily around the light. Honestly, his patience is going down the proverbial drain, for it's been an hour and fifty-six minutes and he thinks he has a justifiable reason for being irritated.

He turns his gaze to the clock again restlessly. It's been two hours now, and honestly Shino really has no more reason to put up with this any longer and snaps, "How long are you going to ignore me for?"

Kiba jumps from his place on the bed, and he turns towards Shino jerkily, eyes round with surprise. "Huh?"

"It's been _two hours_ and you haven't said anything," Shino says, hurt. "I'm used to being ignored, but not by you."

"Oh." To his credit, Kiba looks horribly guilty. "S-sorry, Shino."

"What have you been doing that made you shut up for two hours, anyways?"

Much to Shino's surprise, Kiba flushes. "Nothing!"

Blinking at the blatant lie, Shino pushes off the wall and walks towards Kiba, who clutches a sheet of paper to his chest for dear life. "What were you doing?" he asks again, genuinely curious.

"I said, _nothing_."

"I won't laugh at you," Shino promises.

"You don't laugh at _anything_ ," Kiba huffs, face still red.

Shino frowns at Kiba's words. "That's true, but I promise I won't look down on you for it…"

"Yeah, sure," Kiba retorts defensively, arms wrapped around his knees. Shino can spot the sheet of paper between his thighs and his chest, and there's a pencil and an eraser on the blankets. There are a lot of eraser shavings on the ground, and Kiba's right hand is silvery gray. His socks are also mismatched, one blue and one white. He recognizes the blue one as one of the ones he'd gotten Kiba for Christmas.

"Were you… drawing?" Shino inquires, putting the pieces together quickly.

Kiba blushes even redder. "None of your business!"

"I think it is," Shino says flatly. "Why? Because one, you're in my room, on _my_ bed. Two, you've ignored me for _two hours_ and you're never quiet. Three, you're my closest friend. I have a right to know."

"Fine, _fine_ ," Kiba mutters mutinously. "I _was_ drawing. Happy now?"

"It's nothing to be ashamed of," Shino tells his friend. "Why? Plenty of people draw. May I see?"

"No."

"Please?" Shino's curiosity has been piqued.

" _No_ , Shino."

" _Please_? I promise I won't laugh if it's bad."

"T-that's not the problem here! _No_."

Shino blinks, mildly confused. "What is, then?"

"Nothing!"

"Stop lying and just let me see, _please_ ," Shino sighs with a roll of his eyes.

"No!" Kiba squeaks, panicking. "You're going to hate me if you do!"

"I probably won't hate you for whatever your drawing is. Why? I still don't hate you for giving me bug spray for Christmas," Shino replies dryly. "Please?"

"I—ugh. Fine." Hesitantly, Kiba uncurls and turns away, holding out the paper facedown, which Shino takes, curious.

He flips it over, and blinks in surprise and a little awe and honestly quite flattered. "You… were drawing me?"

Kiba says nothing as Shino studies the paper. It looks incredibly like him.

"I bet you could make some money from drawing," Shino adds genuinely. "Why? Because you're really good."

"Shut up."

Shino allows himself a smile. "Did you even need to use me as a reference?"

Kiba blushes and that's the only response Shino needs, and he carefully sets the drawing on the bedside table before taking a seat next to Kiba on the bed, who gives him a wary glance.

"I really like it," Shino says nonchalantly. "But not as much as I like you."

"Oh," says Kiba in a voice about an octave higher than normal as Shino leans in.

.

 **Word Count:** ~1000

 **a/n:** my first shinokiba because why not.

Unbetaed work ftw


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